This invention relates to a method for fulling a knitted or woven fabric and an apparatus for carrying out the method, and more particularly, to a method for fulling knitted or woven fabrics capable of being fulled and particularly, fabrics of wool or blended wool wherein the fabric is first cooled to a temperature below the freezing point, impregnated with moisture so as to cause the moisture to permeate into and adhere to the fabric and dried to a desired moisture content whereby any strain which might otherwise be potentially present in the fabric when the fabric is woven and/or finished can be eliminated, and an apparatus for carrying out the method.
As compared with fabrics knitted or woven from synthetic fiber or from synthetic fiber blended with natural fiber other than wool fiber, knitted or woven fabrics, particularly containing wool, have been found to have the disadvantage that the diameter of the fibers of the fabrics increases upon absorbing an excess amount of moisture this leading to an increase in the rate of bending of the yarns formed of such fibers and resulting in an increase in the dimensions of the fabrics, that when the moisture is evaporated from the fabrics in the reverse way, the rate of bending of the yarns decreases and the dimensions of the fabrics diminish, and that since an internal strain remains potentially within the fabrics due to an external force which acts on the fabrics when the fabrics are woven, unwound and/or wound, the fabrics experience gradual deformation resulting in variation in the dimensions of the fabrics as time goes by. In order to eliminate variation in the dimensions of the fabrics, it has been commonly practiced that the fabrics are immersed into warm water or steam or that heated steam is jetted thereagainst and then dried after any excess moisture has been evaporated therefrom. However, such a conventional method can not fully eliminate potential internal strain from the fabrics. Thus, after the thus treated fabrics have been cut into pieces having predetermined shapes and dimensions or such fabric pieces have been sewn together and pressed, the cut and/or sewn fabric pieces tend to gradually vary in dimensins and the garment loses its shape.